Tryon Arts & Crafts School Presents:

Tryon’s Legacy of Toy-Making Comes to Life at TACS Exhibition

Tryon Arts and Crafts School is pleased to announce that our next exhibition hits very close to home with a lively presentation of painted wooden toys made circa 1915 through the 1930s by the Tryon Toy-Makers and Wood-Carvers. In a special addition, the exhibition will be complemented by a display of handcrafted wooden toys by Younger Brother Woodworking, the studio of local artisan Ray Buckmaster. Together, these two exhibits celebrate both Tryon’s historic and contemporary traditions in toy-making craftsmanship.

The dual exhibition will run May 2 through June 26, with an opening reception on May 1, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. During the reception, TACS will host a raffle featuring Toy-Maker-themed cookies, artfully crafted by Valhalla Cakes. A special talk on the history of the Tryon Toy-Makers, presented by current Tryon Toy Maker owner Julia Calhoun, will also be offered — date and time to be announced.

Rooted in more than a century of tradition, the Tryon Toy-Makers’ story adds rich historical depth to the exhibit. Two highly trained, creative, and enterprising women, Eleanor Vance and Charlotte Yale, came to Asheville to work for Biltmore Industries but moved to Tryon in 1915 to start their own company. They were believers, like many of their time, in progressive reform ideals and began teaching local youths high-quality woodworking, carving, and painting skills. These were useful trades that developed discipline, provided career opportunities, and promoted the craft arts Vance and Yale favored. Workers produced charming, beautiful toys as well as highly valued custom carved items. Such work earned the company a national reputation for excellent craftsmanship; in fact, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt herself was a fan of the toys and visited Tryon to see the operation on Howard Street in the (still-standing) “Toy House.”

The toys to be exhibited include some of the Toy-Makers’ most popular sets, such as the “Mountain Home,” a diorama of items including an Appalachian mountaineer, his family, cabin, and assorted animals. Other sets reference folk tales, such as Goldilocks and Little Bo Peep. Also included are dolls and their furniture, stilts, whimsical zoo animals, a bowling set, and a horse on wheels (now affectionately known as “Morris”).

The selected historical toys were gathered from three collections generously loaned for this exhibition, including work from Western North Carolina, TACS’ own collection, and many pieces from renowned Tryon collector Rick Dunn (who passed away last August). In addition, a set of tools that belonged to Tryon Toy Maker Lemuel Keith Grady, donated to TACS by his granddaughter Fran Grady, will be on display.

Ray Buckmaster’s contemporary handcrafted toys add a dynamic, living link to the past. Buckmaster first began making pull toys for family members in 2014. Within four years, he was designing and selling toys at local craft fairs in Charleston and opened an Etsy shop. After relocating to Tryon during the pandemic, he pursued toy-making full-time until a flood in his workshop shifted his focus back to furniture making, his first woodworking passion. The toys on display, made in 2022 and 2023, are among the last in his inventory. Buckmaster is generously donating these toys to Tryon Arts and Crafts School, with proceeds from their sales directly supporting TACS’s mission and operations. His creations are milled from hardwood lumber using templates he designed for consistency. Using bandsaws, CNC machines, and router bits, he cuts blanks into shape, then meticulously rounds and sands each edge. Toys are finished with non-toxic dyes, protective layers of all-natural shellac, and assembled with dowels, wheels, and pull-strings — resulting in heirloom-quality, child-safe toys made to last generations.

This exhibition reflects the enduring spirit of craftsmanship that has long defined Tryon, connecting past and present in a celebration of artistry, history, and community.

– Dr. Lili Corbus

Special thanks are extended to Fran Dunn on behalf of Rick Dunn’s Estate, Loran Berg of Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Center, Greta E. Browning of Appalachian State University’s Special Collections, Fran Grady, the Family of Peggy Constance, Judith Webb, and Julia Calhoun for their generous support and contributions. Additional gratitude is owed to Wendi Cottington, Biz Eischen, Madison Geer, Mike McCue, Suzanne Monroe, Jerry Pospisil, and Bob Rossier for their assistance with this exhibition.

Event sponsors for this exhibition include New View Realty, Overmountain Vineyards, Nature’s Storehouse, Tryon Theatre, Biltmore Wines, and Mill Spring Farm Store. Operating support for TACS is provided by the Polk County Community Foundation, North Carolina Arts Council, Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, Anna and Nathan Flax Foundation, and Florence V. Burden Foundation.